Madame de Pompadour, whose real name was Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (1721-1764), was the mistress of King Louis XV, who bestowed upon her the title of Marquise. She was involved in the political life of the kingdom, such as by promoting the rise of certain ministers like Choiseul and contributing to the reversal of alliances in 1756. The Marquise de Pompadour also played a significant role in the arts and letters, supporting Voltaire and the Encyclopédie by Diderot and d’Alembert.
Envious and resentful people painted her in a negative light; to some, she was seen as beautiful, refined, highly intelligent, skillful, and of a different class compared to the great ladies, defining the style of an era. To others, she was viewed as greedy, perverse, power-hungry, and responsible for the military disasters of the Seven Years’ War and the disgrace of the best ministers.
The Youth of Jeanne Poisson: Future Marquise de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born on December 29, 1721, tenderly loved by her family. This cheerful, kind-hearted little girl, friend to everyone, received an excellent education at the Ursuline convent in Poissy, which she left permanently at 8 years old due to a severe cold. From this place, she kept the nickname “Reinette,” meaning little queen. She grew up surrounded by her father, a trusted man of the Pâris brothers, great financiers of the Crown; her mother of loose morals; and her uncle Lenormant de Tournehem, future Director of the King’s Buildings. Raised in this way, she would acquire the tenacity and ambition characteristic of high finance circles. Gifted with the ability to please and artistic talents, her uncle provided her with renowned masters of dance, singing, and drawing.
He married her in March 1741 to his nephew Charles Guillaume Lenormant d’Etiolles, son of the treasurer general of coins, honorary knight at the presidial of Blois, pleasant and with good sentiments. According to the marriage contract under community property, she brought 120,000 livres of jewels, linens, and household items; he had 83,000 livres in advance from sub-farms; the uncle housed them in Paris and in the countryside, covering food and clothing expenses, as well as their retinue of five people and the carriage. In case of separation, he would take care of them. The couple would later inherit this uncle’s fortune. She became a good wife, a good homemaker, had a child who died very young, and a little Alexandrine.
With such a background and education, she was sought after in salons and worldly places: at the Hôtel d’Angervilliers, at Madame de Tencin’s; she met Fontenelle, Montesquieu, and Voltaire, which allowed her to obtain preparation for life, moral principles, ease in her manners and conversation, knowledge of the world, freedom of judgment while frequenting people of the court. She was interested in everything: art, artists, philosophers, always finding a witty reply full of spirit and making “a hit” as an actress in some theater performances.
In summer at the Château d’Etiolles, she received guests, indulged in theater, sang and performed comedy in front of Crébillon, Louis de Cahusac (Rameau’s librettist) and quickly became the Queen of this bourgeois world, thanks to her gaiety, talents, and good heart. Admitted to follow the Court’s hunting parties, she sometimes encountered the king… we are in 1744.
At Court, many people talked about her, fortunately, she made friends like Abbé de Bernis, Marquis de Valfons, President Hénault; she also met the Duke of Nivernois, the Duke of Duras, M. de Richelieu… of course, Mme de Châteauroux, the current favorite, was worried!
Recalling the predictions of a fortune-teller promising her the king’s love, she gradually forged herself to this idea. The future Marquise de Pompadour began to love the king, sincerely and without interest: during the king’s illness in 1744, she was quite upset and “seized by a revolution from which she thought she would die.”
Her entourage (Binet, a distant cousin of her mother and First Valet of the Dauphin’s Chamber; her close ones; Le Bel, First Valet of the King’s Chamber, as the king had noticed the lady in 1743 during hunts) pushed her to approach the king so that she would occupy the place left vacant by the disappearance of Mme de Châteauroux.
Jeanne’s First Steps at Court
Their first “gallant interview” took place during the wedding of the Dauphin and the Infanta of Spain in February 1745. The king, disguised as a yew tree, danced with her… everywhere, people whispered the name of Madame Lenormant d’Etiolles… the king installed her in Madame de Mailly’s former apartment. Two months later, Louis XV introduced her to his intimate friends (the Duke of Boufflers, the Duke of Ayen, the Marquis of Meuse) during a supper in the Cabinets, then left to war in Flanders. She had five months to perfect her education at Court and understand all the customs and practices, helped by Abbé de Bernis and the Duke of Gontaut, the king’s close friend. Bernis taught her the Court’s manners, language, ways to avoid missteps, and helped her better understand the king’s ideas.
In July, she officially separated from her husband; the king was so happy that he offered her an estate, she became Marquise de Pompadour; the favorite was officially declared, and Madame de Châteauroux’s apartment was refreshed.
Her presentation at Court took place in September: “the Poisson girl, separated wife of the tax farmer Lenormant d’Etiolles, makes her official entry into the sanctuary of the monarchy, where only aristocrats capable of proving, with supporting documents, nobility dating back to the year 1400 have the right to enter”; the old Princess of Conti, granddaughter of the Sun King, burdened with debts, agreed to be her godmother; the speech between the queen and the marquise was “very long at 12 sentences”; courtiers mocked, the king was embarrassed, slander was rife… but Louis XV no longer left his favorite, he invited her to hunt, to the theater and comedy; she presided over the Little Suppers, appeared at the Queen’s circle; the Duke of Ayen defended her, Prince de Soubise became a friend. Jeanne Antoinette held her place without great effort, naturally, and behaved wisely. Only the Dauphin was “cold” to her, not tolerating his father’s deviations, not understanding his mother’s acceptance!
The king was truly conquered by Jeanne Antoinette, described thus by the lieutenant of the Versailles hunts: “a figure above the ordinary, svelte, easy, supple, elegant, her face was well matched to her figure, a perfect oval, beautiful hair, light chestnut, rather large eyes, adorned with beautiful eyebrows of the same color, the nose perfectly well formed, the mouth charming, very beautiful teeth and the most delicious smile, the most beautiful skin in the world gave all her features the greatest brilliance. Her eyes had a particular charm, which they owed to the uncertainty of their color, and this uncertain color seemed to make them suitable for all kinds of seduction and to express successively all the impressions of a very mobile soul.”
For the king, it was a fresh and new air arriving at Court, opposite to noble ladies, full of pride, obsessed with their rank; Jeanne Antoinette had spontaneity; despite everything, she was disciplined, tenacious, prudent, measured, respectful of hierarchy, and constant in her friendships; she especially wanted to restore confidence to the king who was always in doubt: Dufort de Cheverny wrote “she had the great art of distracting the most difficult man in the kingdom to amuse, who loved privacy by taste, so that as soon as he could escape from representation, he descended to her by a staircase and there deposited the character of king.”
Thanks to the marquise, the king was relaxed, appeased, relieved of obligations for a moment. He could rely on her for the multiple tasks of daily life and desired a true sincere passion.
The Best Years of Madame de Pompadour
From 1746, the marquise asserted herself. She aspired to respectability and wanted to integrate. She thought about introducing her acquaintances and friends, but only those who were worth it like the Pâris brothers and her brother to the position of Director of the King’s Buildings; she listened and intervened with the king, pushed him to make decisions. As the role of a favorite is to satisfy the king’s carnal demands and to entertain him, knowing herself to be of a not very passionate temperament and of precarious health, she used all her intelligence to entertain him by becoming the director and organizer of pleasures: all carnival shows, performances, ballets went through her; she organized the suppers after hunting in her private apartments; she handled with tact and success the second marriage of the Dauphin to the daughter of the King of Saxony, from the first negotiations to the ceremony and related festivities in early 1747.
Despite some slander, Madame de Pompadour was on good terms with the queen: the favorite was gentle, humble, attentive, filled with all possible respect, sincerely concerned about her health, apologizing for not being able to attend a charity work if she was unwell. She had a good heart and wanted to please the Queen, because the Queen was not mean to her and did not treat her badly. She pushed the king to take care of and anticipate his wife’s desires, such as redoing her apartment or paying her debts. The king was happy and more human, he even joked and the atmosphere relaxed between the spouses; but in wanting to do too well, the marquise made blunders like offering roses to the queen, something inconceivable: “a subject does not offer a gift to their king.”
The court of Versailles was hostile to her for her bourgeois rank, they hated her for what she was and not what she did. M. de Richelieu, first gentleman of the chamber, tried to have “the commoner and tyrannical mistress chased from the court.” He was thanked. The royal family and the devout party league against her, the Dauphin nicknamed her “maman putain” (mother whore), and the “poissonnades” (fish jokes, playing on her maiden name Poisson) appeared. Maurepas, responsible for the Royal Household, was the first to expose her intimate health problems in the eyes of all.
Every day there were pamphlets, libels that the Court and the street sang against the marquise; then there were drawings against the king “chained by the marquise and whipped by foreigners,” to such an extent that Madame de Pompadour hardly ate anything, that she was afraid of poison, that a doctor slept by her side with an antidote. Even if the king grew tired and didn’t believe it, after reflection he leaned towards Maurepas, the sworn enemy of the marquise, until asking him to resign in April 1749.
Marquise de Pompadour: Benefactress for the Arts
Loving beautiful things, her ambition was to establish the “French style” throughout Europe. She supported young artists and propelled luxury craftsmanship. She transferred the porcelain manufactory from Vincennes to Sèvres; she convinced the king to become its main shareholder to compete with Saxony porcelain; she organized sales at the castle to promote it. Sèvres and its “Pompadour pink” would become the most renowned porcelain in Europe from 1760.
A theater enthusiast, she founded the “theater of the cabinets,” a small company of amateur comedians, staging about forty shows. She surrounded herself with favorites and friends, such as the Dukes of Nivernois and Duras, the Duke of La Vallière. Loving letters, she favored writers like Malesherbes, Crébillon père, Marmontel, Voltaire who obtained a seat at the Academy; her tastes and friendships led her towards a new spirit, which the devout party could not bear. Finally, she favored the publication of the first two volumes of Diderot’s encyclopedia.
Sharing with the king the passion for buildings, houses, furniture, and fabrics, she acquired properties: the Château de Crécy, La Celle Saint-Cloud, Bellevue, the Hôtel des Réservoirs in Versailles, the Hôtel d’Evreux (which would become the Élysée). She loved to redecorate her residences, especially taking care of the furnishings and woodwork, taking into account the location. Accused of spending too much (in 20 years, she would have used between 6.5 and 7.4 million livres), she replied “this so-called folly that gives bread to so many unfortunate; my pleasure is not to contemplate gold in my coffers, but to spread it.” She employed all artists and craftsmen in all fields. In 1762, she convinced the king to begin the construction of the Petit Trianon, which would be completed in 1768 and would be the delight of Marie-Antoinette.
Yes, she spent, but partly for the king and honor; she never asked for anything for herself, and despite the sumptuousness of the castles, she had nothing of her own, no fortune. The king was very stingy, monetary gifts for the marquise were rare, she only received New Year’s gifts at the beginning of their liaison, her pension of 4000 livres monthly passing to 3000 during the war years; she had to gamble or sell her jewels or houses to balance her income and maintain her rank!
When she resold some of her properties, the money was used to buy another or returned to the Crown. In the field of buildings, she also resembled a bit Mme de Maintenon and her Saint-Cyr institute: Madame de Pompadour founded the Royal Military School, which was to educate 500 young heirs of nobility destined for the military profession for free.
The Sincere Friend Becomes “Prime Minister”
The end of their intimate relationship took place in 1750, only five years after their first liaison. She no longer had the health of the beginning, she realized the king’s lack of eagerness, and despite stimulants, by mutual agreement, they stopped their carnal liaison.
Officially in early 1752, passion transformed into friendship. The marquise remained by his side, he could talk to her about everything and nothing, like a loyal, affectionate, tender friend, an accomplice in almost all moments to whom he would never lack respect. All requests from some, graces, nominations, favors from others passed through her, the king recognized her “unofficial status of advisor and Prime Minister” as mentioned by the Duke of Croÿ “her credit never ceased to increase, major affairs but even details passed through her hands; she knew that she had to make herself necessary to the King of France through his most important interests to supplement the need he no longer had so strongly for her person.”
The marquise also did her utmost to “patch up” the royal family; even the Dauphin began to be pleasant with her; the queen was very happy with the marquise. Their relationships all became calm, serene, and cordial. This was seen at the birth of the king’s grandson, when the marquise fainted, the royal family asked for news of her health!
But 1751 was the year of the jubilee and the religious question regularly returned. And even if the king heard the sermons, even if he no longer slept away from the Seven Years’ War and allowed himself some rare suppers at Bellevue, Madame de Pompadour was not safe: if the church people managed to convince the king to return to Christian life, they would be capable of convincing him also to purely and simply dismiss the marquise… and in a public manner!
To reassure the marquise in the face of young and beautiful ladies of the court, the king offered his dear and indispensable friend the duchess’s stool during the ceremony of October 17, 1752, at 6:15 am “very high and very powerful Lady, duchess marquise de Pompadour will be able to be seated at the king’s grand couvert, with the queen and the children of France; placed on the same footing as the wives of dukes and peers, she will precede those of the great officers of the crown.” She also attended the toilet, audiences, and circles, entered by carriage into the Louvre courtyard as well as into royal houses. The stool “the rarest consecration with which the King of France can honor the services of a subject and the merits of a great lady” was a real distinction.
The new duchess would live another twelve years and retain the first place by force of will. She could not improvise herself as Minister at the political level, but she would learn and in four years, she burned through the stages; foreign ambassadors realized this, all wanted to “buy” her, none would succeed; she was not venal, she wanted the good of the king, supporting him morally, serving as an intermediary and spokesperson as during the Treaty of Versailles in 1756, as Pierre de Nolhac recounts “it’s more pleasant to have a beautiful woman during conversations; her intervention prevented discovering the king, Austria ignored that he was decided to listen to its proposals, the marquise’s mediation gave him time to reflect.”
The reproaches did not cease, the devout considered her as an enemy, although she was not. The king’s children formed a bloc against her, she only wished for their recognition, she wanted to be accepted, so that the king would also live better with his children who often “gave him the cold shoulder.” On Madame de Pompadour’s advice, he made them participate in his life, his leisure, took them hunting, invited them to shows, to small suppers. All in vain! To “not make waves,” she turned to religion, regularly attended services, fasted on prescribed days, dressed soberly, multiplied charitable works, especially as she had just lost her daughter Alexandrine, taken away in a few days in 1754.
Marquise de Pompadour Wrongly Accused of Political Mistakes?
The Damiens attack in 1757 sparked open hostility from the Church toward the new duchess. Believing himself to be doomed, the king confessed, sought forgiveness from his entire family, who were unable to help him or provide the words needed to console him. The king’s wound was primarily moral; “his health was nothing compared to the salvation of his soul.” Churchmen took precedence over doctors, urging him to dismiss the Marquise and renounce his pleasures. Meanwhile, she lived in constant anxiety in her apartment below, until the king fully recovered and began using the staircase again to visit her. A few hours later, he returned with his spirits healed, wearing a pleasant expression and a smile on his face. The next day, they resumed their usual routines and became even more attached to each other.
D’Argenson, who was always opposed to the king’s favorite, continued to promote pamphlets against her, even having them read to the king, who then asked him to resign. Was this the work of the Marquise again? No, the king could no longer tolerate D’Argenson—the spy of the devout party, confidant of the queen, friend of the archbishop, and opponent of the Austrian alliance—who, instead of stopping the libels, had encouraged them.
Accused of venturing into politics, she only wanted to help the king. Bernis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was not up to the task, and the defeat at Rossbach in 1757 was attributed to the Marquise Duchess. However, she had good fortune with the appointment of the Comte de Stainville, the future Duke of Choiseul, who would ensure her safety and be perfectly aligned with the king and thus with the policy pursued. Accused of gross errors during the Seven Years’ War, she served as a happy intermediary between Maria Theresa of Austria and the King of France, from which an alliance pact emerged.
Criticized for catering to the king’s carnal needs by finding him young girls, some of whom were installed at the Parc aux Cerfs, Pierre de Nolhac defended her: “The solution of the Parc-aux-Cerfs was discreet, ignoble, and decent. If the king had continued to honor the ladies of the court, that place would never have existed.”
Nearly exhausted and attacked on all fronts, Mme de Pompadour’s health greatly deteriorated, weakened by tuberculosis. She passed away at Versailles from a pulmonary congestion on April 15, 1764, in her 43rd year. Her body was covered with a white cloth. The king paid her a final tribute by watching from his terrace as the funeral procession passed by, composed of 42 servants and 72 poor people carrying torches. She was at the peak of her glory.
